Immortal Butterflies
by SilimaOhtar
Summary: Taking place after the t.v series, Vash and Knives go to the company of Meryl and Milly to heal but once they discover another immortal like themselves all hell breaks lose. Incomplete story and will not finish it due to personal reasons. Sorry:


The scent of lavender hung over the air. A cool breeze passed over Knives's skin creating exhilarating tingles as the sun beamed down. He loved the recreation room; there was no doubt in anyone's mind about that. It was also the only place that Steve would not go. He preferred the comforts of a few beers, the porcelain god and reruns of old football games. Apparently football was Steve's favorite pastime when he was a teenager. Steve would never understand the comfort of the plants energy, Knives and his brother's kin and brethren. Knives turned his head and opened his eyes a sliver to see his brother. He wanted to make sure that Vash didn't run off with the hypocritical fool of a preacher, Rem. She was always lecturing them about peace, equality and tolerance. But how were he and his brother supposed to be tolerant if even the crew were not tolerant of them? The idea was contradictory to itself.

Sure enough Vash was there. He sat arms folded in a wooden chair staring out a window at the clear blue sky with a wandering look on his face. They weren't in the Rec. room. Shock and memory filled Knives head as his brother turned and smiled, waving his hand, exclaiming some sort of silly greeting that didn't register to Knives. This face was fake. This smiling mask had shot him. Once again this mask that he had fought to protect had shot him. He tried to push himself up but he collapsed back on his bed from pain.

"Don't hurt yourself!" cried Vash. "The last two bullets fractured your collar bones on entry. You also had a fever from your clothing getting into your thigh and infecting it." Vash turned his head down. Knives knew what was coming. Vash bit his lip as a tear hit his hand. "I'm, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to put you through that pain." Knives looked away up at the ceiling. He hated these baby-like self-pity trips of Vash. Knives sighed.

"Why am I here?" Knives stated. Vash glanced up at Knives. "I am supposed to be dead. Don't tell me that Rem's illogical nonsense of 'all life has a chance,' and 'even if you make mistakes, it's always possible to fix them,' saved me from death. I do not want to live because of inanity." Knives smirked.

"No, actually. Though… I was following Rem's ways for too long. I know that. I could have killed you if I truly wanted to, but logic took over. I know that you can't rely on the actions of emotional brashness."

Vash turned his head back to the sky. Knives was confused.

_"If you were going to kill me why didn't you? What kind of sick joke of Karma is this? What is in your head?"_ Knives pondered for a few more moments and smirked. _" Ah of course."_

"I get it. So now I am just part of your experiment. You record the data as I slowly fly into the spider's web. And what, dear brother, will you do once I am in the web, huh? Will you sit back pondering ways to save both me and the humans while we destroy ourselves in battle?"

" Life is not an experiment!" roared Vash. He stood up quickly. "Nor is anyone a scientist. No one has the right to endanger another's life for entertainment." Knives scowled. His brother was making some sense. But this was a political argument; there could always be a counterpoint.

" What about historians? Are they not the scientists, recording and observing the material of life?"

" They record what is already in progress and do not set the stage for death to happen!"

" You're such a hypocrite. You, a superior to these inferior humans, do not consider that you yourself are the scientist."

" I am not."

Knives sighed. This talk was going nowhere. They had spoken many times about this topic and neither would win the debate. So they would both retreat for a while until they where ready for the next round.

_"This time neither of us can retreat. We both needed each other now. I am wounded and he believes that some how he can change me to use his weak mentally. He hopes too much. But, then again, so did I."_

Knives looked at Vash. Vash glared. _ " So this is you with your mask off, Vash. A person full of hate and a crazed fool."_

" Stop this, Knives," said Vash. "We could at least… we should try to act like brothers."

_"Damn you!"_

"Will you not eat your own words?"

"Stop mocking sensibility with Shakespeare. I will withdraw this time, for it seems you have done my next action before me. I will suspend the debate for now."

Knives closed his eyes. He was feeling a slight wave of nausea. He didn't handle pain well, for it was a thing he was not used to. It passed over. Opening his eyes he took a look around at his surroundings. He saw he was in a small apartment-like room. You didn't need to walk far to be in the kitchen or living room portions of the room. There was a separate bathroom and a closet. He now saw that the flower scent came from a vase on a nightstand at the foot of the bed next to a desk. He also saw many pillows and a few blankets folded on a red toned couch.

Vash now had his back to him at the kitchen counter. Vash turned around with a big grin on his face and a large mug in his hand. He walked over to the bed and handed it to Knives.

" What is it?" asked Knives. The liquid inside had a deep red tone to it.

" An antioxidant tea. It will help you heal and get out the germs from the fever that are still in you." Knives sniffed it a little. It smelt nice, like cinnamon. He took a sip.

" It's not baa…!" Knives gagged. Vash smiled.

" Ooo, sorry, I didn't warn you about the aftertaste, did I? Oops."

" What the hell is in this stuff!" screeched Knives.

" Just some sassafras root and alcohol."

"Alcohol! You don't plan to make me a helpless drunk do you?"

"No! I thought since you were in so much pain, it would help you not feel so much."

"So you plan to leave me here, do you? You're going to shoot me again once I'm better to prevent me from doing anything brash!"

"What the hell are you talking about?! I'm trying to help you and you just…"

"Oh sure, 'trying to help me,'"

"Yes, help!"

" By making me a senseless drunk under you influence."

" You're talking shit!"

" Oh yes. I see. You want me as a puppet!"

" You're accusing me of involuntary puppetry!"

" Well it sure seems…"

" Will you two both shut up!" The twins fell into silence. A tiny Japanese girl with short hair stood in the doorway. In her hands was a paper bag full of restaurant doggie bags. "It's nice to see that Mr. Knives is awake and well, but you don't have to harass him, Vash."

" I'm harassing him!" cried Vash. " He was accusing me of involuntary puppetry!"

" Whatever. Though, if you keep on doing it, you won't get the doughnuts I bought." Vash looked at the ground and sniffed.

"You're a very cruel person Myrel."

"I know." She took out from the bag a box of doughnuts. No sooner was Vash gulping them down. "You're hopeless."

" Of course," mumbled Vash. "Aaay, Mives, want anwe?" Knives looked at his brother with disgust. How dare he bring him here, to live with a human, to rely off a human!

" No thank you. You are a pig, you know that?" Knives sipped his tea.

" Mo, I a a lant, member!" Vash laughed a hideous laugh, still talking incoherently. Myrel shook her head as she set the food on the counter.

" Mr. Knives, would you enjoy something other than a doughnut?"

Knives closed his eyes in disgust. How could this be happening to him? He did know he was starving but he was at the mercy of a human. An imperfect being more disgusting than his brother, who had finished off the box of doughnuts. What was he to do?

" I understand perfectly well your distaste in myself and my kind but you must understand that pride should be tossed away in the extreme cases such as this where it is up against plain survival." Myrel came forward with a bowl of spicy noodle soup.

" Fuck off. I do not need the wisdom of an inferior being such as yourself." Knives grinned manically. Myrel gasped. Vash stopped eating doughnuts. His eyes narrowed.

" That is no way to treat a lady, especially one that has been so hospitable to you! You: the one that wants to destroy her kind!"

"Lady or not, she is still one of them." Knives remarked sipping his tea.

" Why you…" Vash raised his arm for a punch.

" No Vash!" ordered Myrel. Knives continued sipping, unperturbed. " I will respect Knives's view. Maybe he will learn a thing or two over time with us." Knives looked at her irritably.

"I don't need your pity," Knives snarled.

She set down the bowl of soup on the nightstand. "If you change your mind about the food, Mr. Knives, it will be waiting. Vash makes a horrible tasting soup so don't think he can cook for you. I'll see you guys later tonight." She reached for her waitress apron on the counter and went out the door closing it softly behind her. She paused with her hand still on the handle. She was glad that Milly had warned her that Knives might be like that and gave her strength to face Knives wrath.   
_" I understand perfectly well his distaste in myself and you and humans, Myrel, but he has to understand that his pride must be tossed away in this extreme case in order for him to survive."_ Milly's voice echoed through her mind. "_Maybe he will even learn a thing or two about humans while he stays with us."_

"Thank you, Milly," Myrel whispered letting go of the door handle. She made her way down the hall, back outside to get back to work.

"Thank you for what Myrel?" squeaked a high-pitched voice. Myrel stopped and looked behind her. There was Milly, towering over her, her hair pulled back in a braid and in her construction clothes.

" Oh nothing, Milly. I was just talking to myself." Myrel covered it up with a fake laugh, rubbing her hand on the back of her neck. " Lunch is inside on the counter… oh, and Mr. Knives is awake. He is kind of grumpy, though."

" Okay!" exclaimed Myrel. "I'll be sure not to upset him too much." Myrel gave a chuckle and continued walking out the door.

" I don't think that is possible. Good luck!" Milly looked at Myrel with concern. Myrel wasn't that good at hiding her emotions.

_" Could Vash's brother be that bad?"_ She opened the door to see Vash scowling in the corner of the room with an empty doughnut box in his hand. Knives was sitting slightly with the help of pillows sipping on a cup of tea showing slight irritation after every gulp. " It must be that tea. I never liked it when I was young either."

" Hello Vash! Hello Mr. Knives!" she called. Smiling waving. She noticed Knives pupils narrow at the sound of her voice. She got that a lot.

" Hello!" sang Vash. " How is work going?"

" Oh, the laying of the pipes is going fine. There's a crew always on duty, so none of the damning gets out of hand. I'm starving!"

"You must be. You were on the early shift at four in the morning, weren't you?" Milly grabbed a doggy bag with chicken fingers in it.

" I sure was!" She gulped down the food in a matter of minutes. All the time observing Knives as he slowly sipped his tea. It was frustrating to watch someone so rude. After all they had done for him for the past three weeks and he still had no decency to even recognize the fact she was there. _"What the hell is your problem? You think you have us all figured out, yet you know nothing. You are lower than us, you stupid……Milly calm down. You can still change him. There is always hope."_ She took a poured a glass of water from a pitcher and drank it quickly.

" Well, Mr. Knives, how are you feeling? We were really worried about you, you know. It seemed for the first week like you weren't going to live through each night. I hope you feel a lot better than you were feeling." Knives twitched.

" How would you know what I was feeling you insignificant bitch! Do you even know what feeling is while you lead you senseless life to 'help' other arrogant humans." Milly gasped. She looked at Vash. He was glaring at the smirking Knives. It looked like he was going to shoot Knives again.

" Well, I know you weren't in superior shape. You were constantly having spasms, you sweated like pig even though you where chattering, and you were screaming out loud in your sleep. You were in bad shape. Don't you remember any of it?" Knives scowled. Lies. She was telling lies he was sure of it. He looked at his brother. A solemn expression crossed his face.

_ " Stop look at me with that damn pity!"_ He looked at Milly. She looked into her glass of water. Memory filled both her and his brothers faces. _"Could it be true? Could I have been in that bad of a state?"_

" I'm sorry if I have offended you, Mr. Knives, but it is the truth." She quickly glanced at the clock about counter. "Oh, look at the time. I have to go now! I'm working the late shift until one. I should be back at dinnertime but I highly doubt it. I may go visit Myrel at her restaurant and eat there. Is that okay with you, Vash?"

" No problem!" Vash smiled. Milly smiled back. It was glad to know that someone could be bright and bring happiness to the world like herself.

" I'll see you in the morning then… oh, and Vash, can I please have that doughnut you're saving on the back of your boot?" Vash gulped. "You know, Myrel probably meant me to have at least one doughnut!" He bent down and opened a secret compartment on the back of his boot reveling a doughnut. He tossed it to Milly who caught it.

" Thank you! Bye Vash! Bye Mr. Knives! Hope you feel better!" she peeped. She went out the door and Vash sighed.

" I wanted that doughnut." whined Vash.

" Vash," whispered Knives. He looked up at the ceiling once again. " How long have I been here?"

" About two and a half weeks now." Silence filled the room for a minute.

" Was I really in that bad of shape like the human said?"

" Yep."

" Damn."

" Yep."

" It was from the fever wasn't it? Why don't I remember a thing about it, then? I feel like its only an hour after our…our argument."

" We are something like plants, remember. You may have gone into a state of shock, where you may have seemed conscience to us but you weren't."

" That would seem logical." Knives closed his eyes. All of a sudden he felt very sleepy again. He heard his brother move. He turned his head and opened his eyes to see his brother sitting on the couch, silently crying.

" You were in bad shape, Knives. I really didn't mean for you to go through all that pain. I just wanted to stop you from destroying. Destroying lives just makes you lower than a human; it makes you a selfish, arrogant, insolent, and imperfect organism. Like you said before. I just couldn't let you do that. So many would suffer. And I thought… I thought if I made you suffer a little it would save them from suffering, but I'm such a hypocrite. I still caused suffering. Just like I caused you suffering. I couldn't believe how much suffering I caused you. I didn't mean to, I didn't mean to! I don't want anymore suffering!"

Vash buried his head in his hands and sobbed. Knives watched in horror. It made sense this time. Vash's crying made sense this time. But why did it make sense? Why now? Nausea swept over him and he felt himself vomit. There was nothing he could do about it. He saw Vash stand up and rush to his side. " _Brother? You're such a weakling. But why then are you making sense?"_ All went dark.


End file.
